Improvement in apparatus for deoxidizing iron ores



Patented Jan... 4, 1876.

A. G. HUNTER.

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-- APPARATUS FOR DEOXIDIZING IRON ORE.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

'ANDREW GEORGE HUNTER, 0E DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR DEOXlDlZlNG IRON ORES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 17 I ,812, dated January 4, 1876; application filed August 28, 1874 1 To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ANDR W GEORGE HUN- TER, of Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented an Improvement in Process and Apparatus for Deoxidizing Iron Ores, ofwhich the following is a specification The nature of this invention relates to cer' tain improvements in apparatus for deoxidizing, or deoxidizing and carbureting, iron ores, and converting them into an iron sponge preparatory to being made into blooms or conversion into steel. The object of the invention is to render the process, as heretofore practiced or attempted to be practiced, more effective, more certain, and less expensive in reducing ores by means of carbureted, hydrogen or carbonic oxide, or other gases resultant.

A suitable apparatus is shown in vertical section in the annexed drawings, in which A represents a rectangular tower or chamber,

which may be of any other form, if preferred,

which may be entirely unobstructed in its iiiterior space, or provided vwith shelves B throughout a part or all of its height. The bottom of this tower, chamber, or shaft is provided with a floor, G, inclining from the center toward the outlets D, whichlatter may be surrounded with suitable Water-jackets,

' with water inlet and outlet pipes, andmay be also provided with proper gates or valves to close the outlets when desired. E is a flue and ore-dust chamber beneath the floor (J, and from this chamber there should be openings for removal of ore-dust and a flue leading to a proper smoke-stack or chimney. (Not shown.) This shaft or tower or chamber may or not, as desired, be provided with inner walls F and outer walls G, and between these Walls there may be arranged, on each side, fiues H, extending from the openspace above the top of the inner wallF, through the floor G, into the chamber E beneath the floor. Into the top'of the tower or shaft, and filling an appropriate opening therein, is placed a hop per, 1, the lower or discharge end of which is provided with a suitable screen, K, so arranged that there may be a nearly-continuous flow of finely-pulverized ore'from the hopper through said screen, which preferably should be provided with proper devices to close the discharge end of the hopper when and as desired. The form of the shelves B, where such are employed, is shown in cross-section in the drawings, but any other suitable form, combining sufficient strength, may be employed, and they should be arranged in tiers, so that a shelf on the lower tier should be placed immediately below the space between two adjoining shelves in the higher tier, so that the finely-powdered ore which may fall olf from the higher will be caught upon the lower tier of shelves, and so retarded in its passage downward through the shaft. LM are air and gas inlet pipes, respectively, communicating with the upper part of the interior of the shaft. N are a series of air-inlet pipes, communicating with the interior of the lines H; and P are another series of similar pipes, communicating with the interior of the shaft,

tower, or chamber. R are inlet-pipes, forthe admission of carbureted hydrogen or carbonic oxide, or both, :into" .the lower 'endo'f the shaft, just above thehighest part of the floor thereof.

The process of reducing the iron ores may be thus described: The iron ore, in a crushed, or preferably finely ground or stamped, and in a heated, state, is fed into the top of the tower, ;andin falling'is met by an ascending currentofhighly-heatedcarbur'etedh ydfogeii? the shaft may advantageously be employed,

their perfect combustion being effected bythe admission of air to the fiues H, through the air-inlets L and N, at suitable and desired points. The iron ore, previously to being fed into the shaft, may or notbgmixedcwithicarbonaoeous matter, and maybe fed into thetop of the tower in a heated state.

The carburetnation or part of the deoxidizing-tower, the

respective limits of each being defined by the point at which air is admitted to the interior of the tower through the pipes P, or any of them, to burn the carbureted hydrogen and other gases, and these limits may be readily varied by having the air pipes at. different levels, as shown, provided with suitable valves or cocks by which air can be admitted at the point desired; or the heating-towers maybe arranged side by side, or in any other convenientposition, with reference to the deoxidizin'gtower, the heated ore. being delivered at the top of the deoxidizing-tower by suitable elevators. The heating-tower may have external heating-fines, down which the gases evolved from the top of the said tower may be passed, together with such other heating gases or waste heat as may be necessary or convenient. The carburcted-hydrogen and other deoxidizing gases may be heated by passing them through a system of heating-pipes or through heated chambers of brick-work or; other convenient and efiicient apparatus for heating gases, and as a source of heat for this purpose the gases or part of them evolved from the deoxidizing-tower may, when mixed with air, be employed. The fines leading from the deoxidizing and heating towers should be provided with dust-chambers for the deposition therein of the iron-ore dust mechanically carricd off by the currents of gases, and also with dampers or valves to regulate the heat and currents of gases. When it is desired not only to deoxidize the iron ore, but also to partially carburize the resulting iron sponge it is well to mix with the iron ore, previously to passing it down the tower, a quantity of carbonaceous matter, and to permit tlie iii e'end carbonaceous matter to remain at the bottom of 'the shaft for some time exposed to the heat of the incoming current of highly-heated carbureted hydrogen or carbonic oxide, thereby afl'ording time for the carbon to soak into and carburize the iron sponge. The time necessary forthis depends not only on the degree of carburation desired, but also on the fineness of the iron sponge, the heat to which it is exposed, fand the refractory or other nature of the ore under treatment. A tower fifty feet high inside, the lower half being devoted to deoxidizing A convenient arrangement is to make the heating-tower an upward cont1nand the upper half toheatin g, is a convenient size, the deoxidation in the lower halfvbjeiiig produced by the highly-heated current of gas or gases entering through the pipes R, and the heating in the upper half being produced by consuming the gasor gases by the admission of air at any desired point through the pipes P. The. gases resultant from the ore under treatmen t are employed partly in the tower A, and partly in the dues H, for heating, and i are ignited and burned by the admission of air at any desired point through the pipes N,

L, and P. i

When the ore has been treated as described,

and it is desired to remove the resultant iron sponge in a hot state, it should bewithdrawn into air-tight boxes or wagons, in which a little tar, pitch, grease, or othercheap inflammable substance may havebeen previously placed, in order, by its flame andjsmoke, to

expel the oxygen from theinterioriof the box or wagon, and thereby prevent the oxidation of the iron sponge; or the iron sponge maybe allowed to cool before removal from the deox idizing apparatus. The sponge,whether removed hot or cold, maybe, in a suitablepress, reduced to blooms, of convenient size for further uses. l

It will be noticed that the salient pointin,

this in ventionis so constructing the reducing apparatus that one portion thereof maybe employed for the purpose of deoxidatiomor for deoxicla-tion and carburation, while the other portion is employed for heating. the ore previous to its being subjected to the deoxidizingprocess by means of the current of highly-heated carbureted-hydrogen and other gases ascending through the descend ing mass of ore. What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In combination with the chamber, shaft, or tower, theflues H, provided with air-inlets L N, substantially as described, by means of which the gases resultant may bejignitedandf consumed at thepoint desired.

. I 2. A shaft, tower, or chamber, for deoxidiz 'ing iron ores, wherein theehamber A, floorC,

(outlets D, flue and ore-dust chamber E, tines H, hopper I, hopper-valve K,air-inlet pipes L N P, and gas-inlet'pipes M R, are constructed and combined to operatesubstantially as and for the purposes set forth, whether combined with the shelves B or not.

asnenwenoeen HUNTER. j

Witnesses:

G. E. HUESTIS, H.S. SlRAG-UE. 

